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Chelsea are set to miss out on signing Leandro Paredes as Paris Saint-Germain are on the verge of reaching an agreement with Zenit, according to reports.

Maurizio Sarri wants the Argentina international as a replacement for Cesc Fabregas, who joined Monaco earlier this month, but Chelsea have refused to meet Zenit’s valuation.

PSG, meanwhile, are also in the market for a new central midfielder with Adrien Rabiot set to leave when his contract expires at the end of the season, while the French champions have also lost out in the race to sign Ajax’s Frenkie de Jong, who will join Barcelona in the summer.

According to Russia’s Sport-Express, PSG are now closing in on a deal to sign Paredes and have nearly reached an agreement with Zenit.

Paredes was wanted by Maurizio Sarri at Chelsea (Getty Images)

Zenit’s executive director Pavel Pivovarov has travelled to Paris to continue negotiations, while PSG are prepared to spend €48 million (£41.8m) on the deal to sign the midfielder.

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The 24-year-old will sign a four-and-a-half-year contract with the French champions.

Chelsea will now be forced to look at alternative options and could make a renewed push to sign Cagliari’s Nicolo Barella.

But the Serie A club are demanding a €50m (£45m) transfer fee, while the 21-year-old is understood to prefer to remain in Italy and would favour a move to either Inter or Napoli, who have both expressed an interest.